Concord's Brief, Yet Not Briefest, Reign

Concord’s debut was met with silence, leading to a swift server shutdown. Read on to learn more about the game’s closure.

Firewalk Studios’ Freegunners Fail to Take Flight, Servers to go Offline Two Weeks After LaunchLack of Enthusiasm Leads to Closure

Firewalk Studios’ 5v5 hero shooter Concord is shutting down just two weeks after its launch. Game Director Ryan Ellis announced the decision on Tuesday, September 3rd, via the PlayStation Blog, citing the game’s failure to meet expectations.

"While many aspects of the experience resonated with players, we also recognize other elements of the game and our launch didn’t achieve our goals," Ellis wrote. "Therefore, at this time, we have decided to take the game offline beginning September 6, 2024."

The statement then went on to detail automatic refunds for all players who purchased the game digitally on Steam, Epic Games Store, and the Playstation Store, while those with physical copies were directed to follow their retailer’s return policy.

It’s evident from the outset that Firewalk and Sony aimed for greater things with Concord. The acquisition of Firewalk Studios, a move driven by Sony’s belief in the studio’s potential, appeared auspicious, particularly given the positive reception from both Ellis and Firewalk’s studio head, Tony Hsu. The game was even slated for an episode in the forthcoming Prime Video anthology series, Secret Level. Furthermore, Ellis detailed an ambitious post-launch plan, encompassing a projected first-season launch in October and weekly cutscenes.

Regrettably, the game’s underwhelming performance necessitated a substantial alteration of plans. They managed to release only three cutscenes—two from the game's beta and one issued a few hours prior to the aforementioned announcement—and only time will reveal if players will witness a continuation of the characters’ journeys in the weeks ahead.

What Imperiled Concord?

Concord’s trajectory was negative from the outset. Despite an eight-year development cycle, the game struggled to attract substantial player interest. In fact, it struggled to reach even a thousand concurrent players, with a peak of just 697. At the time of writing, only 45 players are online. Granted, these numbers do not account for PlayStation 5 users. Even then, however, compared to its beta peak of 2,388 players, Concord’s current performance is drastically below expectations for a Sony-published triple-A title.

Several factors contributed to Concord’s predicted failure. Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad noted in a tweet that while the game featured robust gameplay mechanics and is "content complete," it also failed to distinguish itself from existing hero shooters, offering little reason for players to switch.

"The game itself wasn’t necessarily groundbreaking and the character designs were unimaginative," Ahmad wrote. "It didn’t stand out and felt stuck in the OW1 era."

Furthermore, its high price point of $40 placed it at a considerable disadvantage against popular free-to-play competitors like Marvel Rivals, Apex Legends, and Valorant. Coupled with having little to no marketing, as Daniel Ahmad puts it, "it’s no wonder no one purchased it."

Ryan Ellis, in his statement, indicated that Firewalk Studios will "explore options, including those that will better engage" players. A future return is certainly possible. As seen with the recent revival of the MOBA hero shooter Gigantic, games can indeed stage a comeback. By transitioning from a live-service model to a buy-to-play format six years after its servers shut down, Gigantic demonstrated that discontinued titles can find new life.

While some suggest making Concord free-to-play, following the recent example of Square Enix’s Foamstars, this superficial alteration won’t address the game’s core problems: bland character designs and sluggish gameplay. Many argue a complete overhaul, similar to the successful redesign of Final Fantasy XIV after its initial missteps, is necessary to rejuvenate the game.

Game8 gave Concord a 56 out of 100, lamenting that "it’s almost tragic to see eight years of work culminate in such a visually appealing, yet lifeless, game." For more on our thoughts on Concord, you can read our review below!